What Does Luke 21:38 Mean?
And all the people rose at dawn to come to him in the temple, to hear him.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple, for to hear him.THE KEY
At daybreak, the crowd moves toward Jesus for the sake of hearing him; attention is the point of their arrival.
THE MEANING
The reader stands among people whose shared purpose is to hear Jesus. They come toward him, and their arrival finds its meaning in listening.
THE ROOT
ἀκούειν
akouein
GROWS FROM
ἀκου-
akou-
To hear or listen.
“hear” in this verse is akouein. Luke names hearing as the purpose of the crowd’s coming. The ἀκου- word family can extend from hearing toward heeding, though this verse describes their attentive arrival without saying how they respond.
ALSO GROWS
akoē: Hearing; a report or message heard.
ἀκοή
The shared root connects the act of hearing with what reaches the listener.
hypakouō: Listen under; heed or obey.
ὑπακούω
This related compound shows how hearing can lead toward heeding, while the verse itself only says the people come to hear.
ὤρθριζεν
ōrthrizen
GROWS FROM
ὀρθρ-
orthr-
Dawn; early morning.
“rose at dawn” in this verse is ōrthrizen. The verb depicts rising early, and its imperfect form can convey repeated or continuing action. The dawn is part of the crowd’s movement toward Jesus, not just a detail of the setting.
ALSO GROWS
orthros: Dawn.
ὄρθρος
This related noun makes the time of the crowd’s arrival vivid: it is the breaking of day.
orthrinos: Early in the morning.
ὀρθρινός
This word from the same family keeps the verse’s emphasis on early rising and morning attention.
THE PATTERN
Movement toward a voice can make listening the purpose of a gathering and the first attention of the day.
You hear my voice at morning, LORD; at morning I lay out my prayer before you, and keep watch from the height.Flourishing is the human who hears and responds to me, staying awake daily at my doors, guarding the posts of my doorway.Know this, my beloved brothers. Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to swell.THE THREAD
Watch, then, how you hear and respond, for whoever has, to them will be given, and whoever has not, even what they seem to have will be lifted away from them.Luke 21:38 names hearing as the reason the people come; Luke 8:18 uses the same ἀκούω (akouō, hear or listen) word family to focus on how hearing happens. Together, they make the quality of attention the center of the gathering, beyond its location or size.
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